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Summary

The former site of Mount Foundry became a woollen mill in the late 19th century. Woolcombing finally ceased in 1965 and many of the buildings were subsequently demolished.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1105819: KAMINSKI'S STOREHOUSE

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WOOLLEN MILL (XIX to XX - 1801 AD to 2000 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Worsted Factory' marked on 1904-1906 25 inch Ordnance Survey map.

The Tavistock and District Local History Society, 1994, About Tavistock: An Historical Introduction and Six Town Walks, 53 (Monograph). SDV354806.

Barclay, G. S., 2002, Conversion of Redundant Warehouse Buildings at Kaminski's Garden Centre, Parkwood Road, Tavistock (Plan - measured). SDV358889.

Warren, S., 2002, Evaluation. Listed Foundry Building. Parkwood Road, Tavistock, 4.1-2; photos 5, 7 (Report - Evaluation). SDV348734.

During the time the complex was used for worsted production and as a wool combing factory, a number of additions and alterations were made to the listed building, and wool combing sheds were added to the north end of the west side, between 1897 and 1905.

Kaminski, T., 2003, Demolition of Industrial Buildings and Change of Use from Builders Merchants to Dwellings. (Planning Application). SDV351160.

2003 planning application plans and associated papers regarding proposed demolition of industrial buildings and development of site for residential use, including conversion of listed building to nine dwellings.

Wessex Archaeology, 2006, Mount Foundry, Tavistock, Devon. Building Recording, 3-4 (Report - non-specific). SDV347975.

After the closure of the foundry in 1891, the buildings were unused until 1897, when the premises became a woollen mill. By 1898, mechanical wool combing machinery had been installed and the worsted factory went into production. The wool combing business closed in 1965. During this time a number of additions and alterations were made to the buildings within the site.

Wessex Archaeology, 2007, Mount Foundry, Tavistock, Devon. Archaeological Evaluation Report, 3, 8; figures 1-3 (Report - Evaluation). SDV347974.

The remains of two walls revealed during archaeological evaluation are most likely to be part of the east-west aligned range of structures built after 1885 and mapped in 1906 as part of the worsted factory.

Wessex Archaeology, 2007, Site of the Former Mount Foundry and Tavistock Foundry, Tavistock, Devon. Archaeological Assessment Report and Updated Project Design, 16 (Report - non-specific). SDV347973.

The watching brief in Area 2 exposed two walls running north-south and east-west, which correspond woth the known location of a recently demolished woollen mill building, the latest to survive of that complex.

Freeman, M., 2007, The Tavistock Foundries, Part 2. (Pamphlet). SDV345001.

From 1896 the foundry premises were leased for 70 years as a wool-combing factory. The woollen factory was instructed to demolish some original cottages at the north-west corner of the yard and elsewhere, and was permitted to replace decayed buildings. There was extensive rebuilding and the only parts of the foundry that survived were the sheds by the Millbrook and those by the eastern entrance. The red-brick house with a bell-turret was built as an office for the wool factory, and the bell is inscribed 1919.

Trevarthen, M., 2009, Mount Foundry, Tavistock. An Early 19th Century Iron and Brass Foundry in West Devon, 217-247 (Article in Serial). SDV344802.

The site of Mount Foundry was leased to the Hayle based company Hosken, Trevithick and Polkinhorne in the late 19th century and became a woolcombing and woollen mill. A new large building was built against the northern part of the site which housed mechanical wool combing machinery. The company sold out to Spillers in 1936 and woolcombing finally ceased on the site in 1965. Excavations on the site revealed elements of the woollen mill buildings that had been recently demolished.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4807 - Archaeological Investigations at Mount Foundry, Tavistock
• EDV5424 - Evaluation at Mount Foundry
• EDV5425 - Building Recording at Mount Foundry
• EDV5719 - Evaluation of Foundry Building, Parkwood Road, Tavistock

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